PANO - 40 years have passed by by since the end of the longest war in the history of the United States. Many American are still haunted by what they had done in the past. For that reason, coming back to Vietnam and doing something meaningful to this country has always been the common wish of the veterans. Among them Frank Campbell and Peter Nguyen (Nguyen The Phuong) have been realizing the wish.

The People’s Army Newspaper Online would like to give a summary of the interview with those two veterans on their current visit to Vietnam.

Frank Campbell

Vietnam has never been a foe

Joining the war more than 40 years ago, Frank Campbell was so moved to return to Vietnam.

In 1972, Campbell, being a captain of a US naval vessel in the East Sea never set foot on the mainland of Vietnam, could still witness the heavy destruction of the war, especially in the central coastal region of the country.

That’s the reason why after retiring, Campbell participated in activities of the health sector and of the US Veterans for Peace. He said he joined the organization to call on those who once joined the war to raise their voice against war because war has never been and will never be the answer, for both winners and losers.

Ever since leaving Vietnam in 1974, he has always wished to come back to the land one day as in his mind, Vietnam has never been his foe. Now, his wish has come true as he had chance to return to the country to witness changes in this war-torn land. He also shared that much is left to be done to overcome the consequences of the war for both the Vietnamese and Americans. He shared, “It is more important to head for the future, trying our best so that our next generations will never have to suffer any wars.”

Change is seen every now and then

Peter Nguyen

Peter Nguyen left Vietnam on April 29th 1975 at the age of 23 after serving the intelligence sector of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (the Saigon regime) for 3 years. Through his job, he could recognize a inevitable collapse of the Saigon administration.

That is the reason why he and his family fled to the United States, there he had studied at the University of Colorado (Boulder city, Colorado State). At that time news and information about Vietnam were so rare that he had to save money to buy a short-wave radio so that he could get news about Vietnam through programs broadcast by Radio "the Voice of Vietnam".

In 1988, three years after the restoration of relations between Vietnam and the USA, Nguyen returned to Vietnam for the first time. Since then, he has come back home for 10 times and each time he could notice changes in almost all aspects of life.

In 2013, he was among the expatriates to visit Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago. He had brought back to the United States some corals, sand, and water of Truong Sa, and put them on the altar to pray for peace to the homeland and its territorial waters.

Peter Nguyen shared, “Living in the United States, I came to realize what peace is like. Peace means no gunshots; no shells and bombs and no curfews." Since then Peter Nguyen has been member of the Association of veterans for peace and he used to tell the Vietnamese residents in the US and the Americans that ‘If you want to know what peace is like, please come to Vietnam’ as peace is so sacred especially when the Vietnamese people had to sacrifice too much to have it.”

Reported by Linh Oanh

Rewritten by Huu Duong